Bio:

Ying-Ying is the spoiled daughter of an old and honorable Mandarin family who have served as Imperial functionaries for centuries. She grew up on her family’s country estates, where she thrived on the tales of ancient heroes and great martial artists told by the retired soldiers who cared for the place. Her idyllic life of boxing lessons, climbing trees, and ghost stories came to an end when one of Empress Cixi’s cronies visited the village and realized what a beautiful woman she was becoming. Soon after, Ying-Ying was packed off to court to be groomed for a political marriage.

Out of love and respect for her father, Ying-Ying did her best to become a proper lady, but those were difficult days for her. While she did pick up the rudiments of etiquette and grace, Ying-Ying was never able to master the proper demure attitude of a gentle lady. Despite this, she was ultimately selected as a gift to a powerful British lord who had gained great influence thanks to the opium trade.

Ying-Ying went into her marriage with a determination to earn honor for her family, but her first meeting with Lord Blackwater gave her a chill, and later experience would prove what a depraved beast the Englishman was. She endured his vile predelictions for nearly a year, but when her father was executed by the Empress, at Blackwater’s urging, for daring to complain about the opium trade, Ying-Ying vowed vengeance. That night, she attacked her husband, managing to mangle his manhood before being forced to flee his guards. She fled Peking and boarded a coolie ship bound for America.

Since arriving in California, Ying-Ying has drifted around the Southwest, moving from one Chinese community to another as her wanderlust carries her. She has a very strong notion of the duties and rights of a member of her class, so life has been a bit hard in America. As she refuses to engage in “menial labor,” Ying-Ying has had more than a few hungry days, but she is generally able to get by performing tasks that are appropriate for a woman of her station. She reads and writes letters, in both English and Mandarin, for Chinese workers; adjudicates disputes among members of the Chinese community; represents their grievances and complaints to American employers and officials; defends her countrymen against mundane and supernatural threats; practices medicine and prescribes cures; and, if all else fails, occasionally dances and sings in saloons.

While her grateful and respectful countrymen can generally be counted on for meals and a place to sleep, Ying-Ying still treats money as if she has a never-ending supply. Whenever she gets a few dollars piled up, she buys new dresses and cosmetics, gambles recklessly, and generally lives as lavishly as possible until the cash runs out. If it weren’t for the frequent attacks from bounty hunters and assassins dispatched by her husband, Ying-Ying might have learned to moderate her ways, but it seems that whenever her funds are about to run out, a few nasty characters with full pockets show up hoping to stuff her in a sack.

Ying-Ying has recently found herself in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she has found herself acting as arbiter in a dispute between the Chinese workers a coalition of mine owners who have been enjoying an easily exploited workforce. While Ying-Ying hopes to resolve the matter peacefully, and most of the owners seem willing to bargain, a few of the worst have begun a terror campaign to bring the workers back in line. As the situation escalates, word will surely get back to Lord Blackwater, in his new headquarters in Shan Fan, that his wife has once again made an appearance.